Brother’s gaffe likely to haunt Masters champion
probably whip up a tsunami in the Great Lakes.
For Willett, Ryder Cup week was going along swimmingly until the publication of his brother’s now well-documented magazine column which led to this latest frenzy of apologies. Even Willett’s mum and dad were pondering flying back home. “Let’s just forgive and forget,” said Team America’s Patrick Reed of the situation. That’s what Willett’s brother is probably hoping for too after his so-called tongue-in-cheek scribblings that labelled US fans a ‘braying mob of imbeciles’ and a bunch of ‘fat, stupid, greedy, classless, b ******* ’.
Danny must have felt like the champion of the world coming into this week’s showpiece. A shimmering year which started with an astonishing win in the Masters now bookended by a maiden Ryder Cup appearance?
The last thing he would have been expecting was to be sat in front of the global media explaining away the editorial judgment of his ruddy brother. “Family is family,” he said with a wry smile. “What he said was wrong and incredibly ill-timed but he’s still my brother.”
Timing is everything in this game but this hoopla could not have arrived at the worst time as the pressure builds. When he needs to be focused, Willett has almost been forced to take his eye off the ba’.
“As a rookie, it’s supposed to be a special week,” added the former Walker Cup player. “What was said was said and there’s no going back on that now and hopefully we can draw a line under it. But it’s been hard for me to get back on and fully focus over the last few hours. That’s been the toughest thing.
“I have to be selfish in all this and say that I appreciate that [writing] is maybe my brother’s career but this is my career at the same time. If it was someone else writing it and his last name wasn’t Willett nobody would be making much of a fuss. It’s unfortunate and I’m sure we’ll have a chat when we get home.”
A Ryder Cup on US soil is always an intimidating, hostile environment as the flag-waving, hooting, hollering masses generate a boisterous patriotic fervour. As the reigning Masters champion, Willett is already a figure to shoot down. Now he probably has an even bigger target on the back of that green jacket.
“There are some pretty rowdy American fans at every Ryder Cup,” he added. “That’s the nature of the beast. You don’t mind a bit of heckling but you hope it doesn’t go too far.”
He may be a major winner in America, but the Ryder Cup will still be something of a step into the unknown for Willett, as it will be for the five other rookies in the European side.
Six years ago at Celtic Manor, Martin Kaymer was a new recruit in the ranks. Two years later in Chicago he more than earned his stripes with the nerveless winning putt that completed the Miracle of Medinah.
For Willett and the rest of the new faces, the message is clear. “Try to find a way to calm yourself down, don’t try anything special and just play and enjoy what you love,” said the German.
If Willett and the rest of Team Europe can do that, then nobody will be sorry . . .